Chowder

Chowder

OK, I have BBQ'd corn and raw chicken and bacon leftover from Memorial Day. I think I will make my 1st chowder. Here is what I'm thinking of doing, and you all can tell me where I'm wrong or can improve (or give me recipes for any and all chowders...I love them!):

Switch the chicken for clams and, apart from the cajun chicken magic, which might well work with clams, you have my recipe for clam/corn chowder. The idea is to combine two NE favorites into one GREAT chowder; this also works with just about any seafood. The light bulb idea is bacon, which is terrible for ya, but excellent in so many things. Great recipe EliseT!

Wow, I am so full! I ended up using 3/4 cup heavy cream and only 1/4 cup whole milk. It was sooooo good! You really couldn't taste the bacon as a separate ingredient, it really blended well. I'll bet crab would be good instead of chicken.

Since we are on the trail of the Best Chowder... Which style does it for you...New England (white and thick), Rhode Island (clear and still no Tomatoes), or Manhatten..With the Clear broth cluttered with Tomato chunks etc. Describe any regional specialties that I haven't touched on....

BTW I must ask...Is it true that in Rhode Island they serve Chowder in "Thimble's" just to keep the serving size in 'scale'? hehehe

For me, I like New England style..plenty of Cream, whole clams and clam chunks, tater's, green onion/chives, thick enough to let the spoon down easy when left standing (no splash). I put bacon crumbles on top and a pat (read chunk) of Butter to float on top. Season to taste, but it doesn't need much.

Elise, Bushie will drive 1400 miles to eat BBQ sheep with us next month..Soup on the Left Coast would be as big a deal as BBQ sheep, fer sure !!

Too many places thicken their chowder with some kind of gummy stuff- like maybe a seaweed product. Chowder should be thickened with cream and the starch from the potatoes combining with the fat from the salt pork!

I'm with Sundancer and The Mayor, New England-style all the way, baby! Never had the RI type, doesn't sound like my bag. Manhattan, I like, but were it on the same menu as a NE style, I'd do the NE in a heartbeat. I really like mixed seafood chowders also, and lobster and crab bisques. Basically, put some quality fish in a white brine and I'm happy!

New England style, Baby! That other stuff is just boullibase with ketchup. The King's Head Pub in Santa Monica makes it just perfect. I tried to copy their recipe..butter...cream...more butter and cream...but they fly in some special clams from the East coast that I can't get in markets here. I'm sure when I finally get to Maine to visit my nephew, it will take chowder to a whole new level for me. Someday...

Clear chowder is indeed the favorite in Rhode Island, though it can be found elsewhere around New England. It may be what the review of Noah's is referring to, for it is indeed briney - the clear broth allows the flavors of the clams, potatoes and salt pork to really shine. It tastes like a day at the ocean. Love it. Chowder with cream is ok as well and certainly popular in these parts too - who can object to cream? But it lacks the bite that makes clear chowder so great.

One variety that sometimes goes under the name of Rhode Island-style chowder does include tomatoes, although not to the extent of the abomination that is Manhattan chowder. It's more like clear chowder with some tomato mixed in, often along with diced linguica or chourizo. The sausage, along with the fact that I've mostly encountered this style east of Providence, leads me to believe that this more properly can be seen as a Portuguese style - the product of the large Portuguese community that spreads down from the East Providence area to New Bedford and the Cape.

One thing I cannot abide in clam chowder of any kind is bacon. Salt pork is the key, here as in baked beans. I know some like to use bacon, but to me it gives a jarring flavor that competes with the clams. Anything that distracts from the basic elements of the chowder generally doesn't work for me.

The best chowder with cream in it I have ever had or hope to is the fish chowder at Main Street Seafood in Wakefield, RI. This little fish market/restaurant offers an incredibly rich chowder that is filled with scraps from the seafood offered for sale: bits of fish, scallops and lobster, all in a thick, creamy soup...delicious.

The essential accompaniment for all clam chowder, of course, is a pilot cracker.

Better than oyster crackers is what we called fried clam bits *(Maryland and Virgina. Basically they are clam juice or oyster juice and chopped bits with a tad of cornmeal an hot pepper fried in peanut oil till major yum

A pilot cracker is basically a variant of hardtack. It's a cracker roughly 1/4 inch thick, unsalted, with a wonderful, basic, bready flavor. They are superb crumbled into chowder. Nabisco's Crown Pilot Crackers are the most prominent commercial variety. I believe that they are only currently available in New England - Nabisco tried to get rid of them a few years back but were convinced not to by a protest movement. They are a cherished tradition. Pilot crackers are also delicious when spread with butter.

JG, your are certainly correct about the pilot crackers- the very best for chowder. I've had, on occasion,served with my chowder in New England, small round white, very very hard crackers similar to oyster crackers. Never saw them in a store and don't know what they are called. Do you know anything about them?

Never saw them in a store and don't know what they are called. Do you know anything about them?

I think I know the kind you're talking about, but I'm not sure what they're called either, except simply chowder crackers. I haven't seen them in stores, either. I'll keep an eye out, though - this topic has made me decide to get some chowder this weekend.

Forget about the Pilot Crackers. I was the manager and chef of one of the largest retail fish markets in Boston. The clam chowder was famous, but I really think the FISH chowder and the Portuguese Fisherman's stew were more popular. Not to mention the Mediterranean Fish Soup. Ah.....all those good things out of the oceans. Serve all this up with Westminster Oyster Crackers. Period. And Bon Appetit.